Alison Sarah Cupper (born 20 January 1980) is an Australian politician. She was an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

from 2018 until 2022, representing the seat of

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

and was a previous Labor candidate.

Political career

She served on Mildura Rural City Council from 2013, and during that time was twice deputy mayor. She contested the seat of Mildura unsuccessfully in 2010 as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate and as an independent in 2014, before winning the seat in 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the seat. During Cupper's first year in office, she successfully lobbied the Andrews Government to return the privately operated Mildura Base Hospital to public management. On 4 December 2020, Cupper entered into a

coalition agreement A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with

Fiona Patten Fiona Heather Patten (born May 1964) is a former Australian politician. She is the leader of the Reason Party and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2014 and 2022, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region until sh ...

, leader of the Reason Party. The coalition agreement granted Reason a second representative in the

Victorian Parliament The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, repres ...

, with Cupper being appointed Deputy Leader while retaining her status as an independent member of the Legislative Assembly. Cupper ended the agreement on 13 May 2021.

Personal life

Prior to her entry to the state Parliament, Cupper worked as a social worker and solicitor. Cupper is married and has one child.

References

1980 births Living people Independent members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian solicitors Victoria (Australia) local councillors Women local councillors in Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub